Procurement Dispute Resolution Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Procurement Managers, Contract Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-CM-113

Before you join: This intermediate course assumes participants can read commercial contracts, follow a procurement process and recognise common project records such as notices, instructions, programmes and payment certificates.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Procurement and construction disputes often begin with a late instruction, disputed evaluation, unpaid certificate or missed notice deadline. Once positions harden, teams may face delayed delivery, suspended performance, supplier challenge proceedings or costly arbitration supported by incomplete records. Public buyers must preserve equal treatment, transparency and auditability while resolving issues quickly enough to protect service delivery. Contractors, consultants and suppliers face corresponding duties to preserve entitlement, prove loss and follow contractual escalation procedures.

This course examines the full dispute pathway, from early warning and claim preparation through negotiation, mediation, adjudication, dispute boards, arbitration and procurement remedies. Participants learn to interpret dispute clauses, assess merits and exposure, build evidence files, analyse delay and quantum issues, prepare settlement positions and select an appropriate ADR route. The course addresses public procurement challenges after contract award as well as disputes arising during construction and operational contract performance. Attention is given to FIDIC, NEC4, UNCITRAL procurement principles and institutional arbitration procedures.

Delivered over five instructor-led days in the classroom or live online, the course combines short technical briefings with case analysis, group work, negotiation simulations and structured application planning. Participants work with realistic scenarios involving tender challenges, delayed infrastructure works, disputed variations and supplier-performance failures. Each participant leaves with a practical dispute assessment matrix, claim-file checklist, ADR selection tool and 90-day action plan for improving dispute prevention and response. A certificate of completion is issued to participants who complete the course.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess contractual and procurement dispute exposure using merits, value, relationship and urgency criteria
  • Interpret dispute resolution clauses, notice requirements, governing law and forum provisions
  • Prepare evidence-based claim files containing entitlement, causation, quantum and mitigation analysis
  • Apply negotiation preparation methods using BATNA, settlement ranges and objective criteria
  • Conduct structured mediation preparation, including position statements, authority checks and settlement terms
  • Select appropriate adjudication, dispute board, arbitration or court-based remedy routes
  • Manage public procurement challenges involving standstill periods, debriefings and review procedures
  • Design a dispute prevention and escalation plan for active contracts and projects

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Prepare stronger claim and defence files before positions become entrenched
  • Handle negotiation meetings with clearer settlement authority and concession boundaries
  • Recognise notice-bar risks before contractual entitlement is lost
  • Advise managers on suitable mediation, adjudication, dispute board and arbitration routes
  • Build a documented record of dispute-resolution capability for commercial and project roles

For your organisation

  • Reduce avoidable disputes through earlier warnings, clearer escalation and better contract administration
  • Improve recovery or defence of delay, variation, payment and disruption claims
  • Protect procurement decisions with better evaluation records and review-ready files
  • Control external legal and expert costs through proportionate ADR selection
  • Preserve critical supplier and contractor relationships while resolving contested issues

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify dispute rights, procedural obligations and suitable escalation routes from contract and procurement documents.

  • Sources of procurement dispute rights: contract, statute, regulation and tender documents
  • Jurisdiction, governing law, forum clauses and mandatory public-law remedies
  • Dispute escalation ladders from project managers to independent third parties
  • Distinguishing claims, disputes, complaints, protests and contract administration issues
  • Reservation of rights notices and waiver risks under contract procedures
  • Confidentiality, privilege, without-prejudice communications and document retention controls
  • Early dispute assessment using merits, value, relationship and urgency criteria

Participants can establish contract controls that identify and address disagreement before formal proceedings begin.

  • Risk allocation matrices for scope, design, ground conditions and price change
  • Clear notice clauses, time bars, compensation events and change-control routes
  • NEC4 early warning and risk reduction meeting procedures
  • FIDIC claim notice, contemporary records and dispute avoidance provisions
  • Partnering charters and escalation protocols for live project disagreements
  • Contract administration dashboards tracking notices, instructions, approvals and payment certificates
  • Root-cause analysis separating commercial friction from contractual entitlement

Participants can prepare a structured claim or defence file supported by relevant evidence and analysis.

  • Claim anatomy: entitlement, causation, quantum, mitigation and contractual compliance
  • Contemporaneous records: site diaries, programmes, correspondence, photographs and cost codes
  • Chronologies linking events, notices, evidence and decision points
  • Critical path analysis for delay claims and concurrent delay arguments
  • Measured mile analysis for productivity-loss claims and baseline selection
  • Quantum schedules for prolongation, disruption, variations and financing costs
  • Document preservation holds and disclosure-ready file structures

Participants can prepare and conduct structured commercial negotiations for disputed procurement and project matters.

  • Interest-based negotiation using BATNA, WATNA and settlement authority limits
  • Negotiation preparation sheets covering issues, interests, options and concessions
  • Anchoring, package offers, brackets and conditional concessions
  • Objective criteria drawn from contract rates, market data and precedents
  • Managing principal-agent tensions, settlement approvals and audit trails
  • Settlement agreements, releases, payment terms and non-admission clauses
  • Without-prejudice boundaries and admissibility risks in negotiation communications

Participants can prepare a mediation strategy, position statement and enforceable settlement terms.

  • Mediation models: facilitative, evaluative and transformative approaches for commercial disputes
  • Selecting mediators through subject expertise, independence, availability and cost
  • Mediation statements framing facts, issues, interests and settlement ranges
  • Joint sessions, caucuses and reality testing techniques during impasse
  • Confidentiality agreements and mediation privilege under applicable procedural rules
  • Authority to settle, stakeholder alignment and insurer participation
  • Recording terms in enforceable mediated settlement agreements

Participants can evaluate and prepare for adjudication and dispute board procedures under relevant contract arrangements.

  • Statutory adjudication versus contractual adjudication and dispute board processes
  • Dispute avoidance boards, dispute adjudication boards and standing boards
  • Referral notices, responses, tight timetables and jurisdictional objections in adjudication
  • Adjudicator appointment, conflicts checks and procedural powers under agreed rules
  • Written submissions, witness evidence and expert reports for focused referrals
  • Interim binding decisions, enforcement and subsequent final determination
  • Dispute board recommendations and decisions under FIDIC contract forms

Participants can plan an arbitration approach, manage key procedural stages and assess enforcement risks.

  • Arbitration clauses: seat, rules, language, tribunal size and appointment
  • UNCITRAL, ICC and institutional rules affecting procurement dispute procedure
  • Request for arbitration, answer, counterclaims and jurisdiction challenges
  • Procedural timetables, document production and witness statement preparation
  • Expert witnesses in delay, quantum, engineering and procurement matters
  • Costs, security for costs, interim measures and award enforcement
  • Arbitration award risks, annulment grounds and public-policy limits

Participants can manage supplier challenges while protecting procedural fairness, records and procurement outcomes.

  • Standstill periods, debriefings and bidder challenge routes after contract award
  • UNCITRAL Model Law remedies for supplier challenges and review bodies
  • Procurement file evidence: evaluation records, clarifications, scores and approvals
  • Conflicts of interest, unequal treatment and transparency allegations
  • Interim suspension, set-aside remedies and damages exposure
  • Managing disputes during contract performance without unlawful material modification
  • Supplier performance disputes, exclusion decisions and debarment safeguards

Participants can analyse common construction dispute issues involving change, delay, payment and technical valuation.

  • Change orders, variations and valuation under lump-sum and remeasurable contracts
  • Delay analysis methods: impacted as-planned, time impact and windows analysis
  • Concurrent delay, acceleration, disruption and liquidated damages positions
  • Payment certification disputes, retention, final accounts and interest claims
  • Force majeure, change in law and hardship relief tests
  • Expert determination for technical valuation and measurement disagreements
  • Claims defensibility review using entitlement, evidence and quantum tests

Participants can produce a proportionate dispute strategy and apply improved controls to current contracts.

  • Multi-criteria ADR selection based on value, urgency, relationship and enforceability
  • Dispute strategy papers defining objectives, forums, budgets and decision gates
  • Settlement authority matrices and executive reporting thresholds for major disputes
  • Case budgets covering legal fees, experts, hearing costs and reserves
  • Communications protocols for executives, project teams, funders and regulators
  • Lessons-learned reviews converting dispute causes into contract controls
  • Individual application plans for current contracts and upcoming procurements

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Dispute assessment matrix
  2. Contractual claim file checklist
  3. Negotiation preparation worksheet
  4. Mediation position statement template
  5. ADR forum selection decision tree
  6. 90-day dispute prevention action plan

Who should attend

  • Procurement Managers — need defensible routes for handling supplier challenges and contract disputes
  • Contract Managers — administer notices, claims, changes and escalation procedures during performance
  • Project Managers — require early intervention methods before technical issues become formal disputes
  • Commercial Managers — prepare entitlement, delay and quantum positions for major contracts
  • Construction Managers — manage variations, payment disputes, disruption and delay claims
  • In-House Legal Counsel — advise project teams on ADR strategy, records and settlement risk

Skills and tools covered

Contractual claims analysisADR procedure selectionConstruction delay analysisNegotiated settlement designProcurement remedies managementDispute evidence management

Tools and standards

FIDIC Conditions of Contract, NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract, UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement, ICC Arbitration Rules

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal and commercial concepts, followed by case work drawn from public procurement, construction and operational contracts. Participants analyse contract clauses, notices, programmes, payment records and procurement files in small groups. Negotiation and mediation simulations develop communication, settlement and authority-management skills. Facilitated discussions compare adjudication, dispute boards and arbitration procedures. Individual application planning connects the methods to current contracts, recurring disputes and internal escalation arrangements.

Requirements and prerequisites

This intermediate course assumes participants can read commercial contracts, follow a procurement process and recognise common project records such as notices, instructions, programmes and payment certificates. Participants should have at least one year of experience in procurement, contract administration, project delivery, commercial management, legal support or supplier management. Familiarity with their organisation's procurement rules is useful. No law degree, formal mediation qualification, arbitration experience or prior study of FIDIC or NEC4 is required. The course does not replace jurisdiction-specific legal advice.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have practical familiarity with contracts, procurement processes or project records. A law degree, mediation qualification or arbitration background is not required.

Bring a current or recent contract issue, where organisational rules permit, along with a redacted notice, claim, change record or procurement document. These materials can inform your individual application plan without being shared beyond agreed learning activities.

The course suits procurement, contract, project, commercial and legal professionals who handle disputed supplier or contractor matters. It is particularly relevant to public procurement teams and construction or infrastructure project personnel.

Contract management courses concentrate on administering obligations and preventing non-performance, while claims courses often focus mainly on entitlement and quantum. This course covers both preparation of disputed positions and the ADR procedures used to resolve them.

Participants can use the dispute assessment matrix to assess live matters, identify notice deadlines and assign evidence owners. The ADR selection tool and escalation plan can also be incorporated into contract governance and project reporting.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, group activities, negotiation and mediation simulations, and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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